Nevil Shute and the Accident of War

Love has coexisted with war throughout the history of mankind. But Love rises above barriers erected by man, throwing up heroic tales of the oxymoronic 'love for the enemy'. Shute took an active part in the two World Wars. He was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, a Balliol graduate in Aeronautical Engineering, a war time reporter, an aviation expert, a racing driver, and a writer of fiction, rolled in one. Many of his novels contain first-hand description of battles, fused with tales of love during and after war. The vagaries of trigger-happy Generals and fickle-minded power-mongers, often drive nations to war. But for this 'accident of war', genial and lovable individuals would never kill one's own brethren. This book presents Shute's 'little men', women and children entangled in valorous tales of love, cutting across national, religious, racial, ethnic and countless other barriers to sustain their feelings. It takes a close look at the characters who are in the centre of gripping tales of selfless affection, love and sacrifice as narrated by Nevil Shute in three of his novels, 'Pied Piper'(1941), 'The Chequer Board' (1947) and 'A Town Like Alice' (1949)